Tag Archives: Sumatra

Two Short Pieces of Poetry, From the Pen of an Earnest Biologist (Aditya Sardana aka Adidarwinian), Dedicated To the Exquisiteness of the Birds of Paradise:

“Look in the sky, there fly the Birds Of Paradise,

Too beautiful to be described by our eyes,

Earning praise from the men both Ordinary and Wise.”

“The Birds of Paradise are the radiant gems of the Feathered Race,

For the naturalists and biologists, they are the Nature’s Grace.”

The Birds of Paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes (Perching Birds). The Birds of Paradise are highly admired for their extremely beautiful and extraordinarily developed plumage (plumage is the term used for the layer of feathers covering a bird’s body) unsurpassed by any other family of birds. This awesome pulchritude is shown by the male birds of paradise to attract the female birds of paradise. The male birds exhibit vivid colors and bizarre courtship dances. The sexual dimorphism shown by the Birds of Paradise is one of the best known examples of Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. These birds are found in Australasia, and according to some ornithologists there are only 39 species of the Birds of Paradise. The natural habitat of most of these birds is in the remote mountainous rain forests of New Guinea4.